Rhetoric is rhetoric. Hamas is no different than anyone else in that regard. To suggest that this rhetoric is somehow new is ridiculous.

Israel would rather get Arafat, the democratically elected Palestinian parliament, and the Palestinian Authority out of the way so they could mount a propaganda war against Hammas as the "new" generation of Palestinian leadership. While negotiating with them behind closed doors, in secret.

The cat is out of the bag about a new Palestinian state, and you can't put it back in by demonizing ANY Palestinian organization with a history of providing social services to the West Bank and Gaza--not Hamas, and not the Palestinian Authority, regardless of how corrupt they are. They are the only game in town, until Israel ends it's military occupation, and allows the formation of an independent Palestinian state controlled by an independent Palestinian economy, ruled by Palestinians.